Immigration: Law enforcement to be trained to handle possible illegals

In this Oct. 22, 2011 file photo, supporters surround Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., center, as he leaves after speaking at the "Alabama United: One Family, One Alabama," mass rally in Birmingham, Ala. (The Birmingham News/Tamika Moore)

DAPHNE, Alabama -- Law enforcement officers from across southwest Alabama will be trained later this week on how to handle possible illegal immigrants.

The training follows enactment of the state’s tough new immigration law and widespread concern that it will prove difficult to enforce.

On Thursday in Stapleton, officers are set to undergo instruction through the Alabama Peace Officers Training Academy about various forms of documentation and the steps necessary to notify federal agents about people who appear to be in the country illegally.

“If the court upholds the law, we’ll be better prepared,” said Baldwin County Sheriff Huey “Hoss” Mack. “If the court strikes down the law, we’ve just had the benefit of some good training. We’re operating the way we always have been.”

The law, passed by the Legislature earlier this year, is being challenged in the federal court system and drawing scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice.

In Foley, an area with Baldwin County’s heaviest concentration of Hispanic immigrants, Police Chief David Wilson said his officers have received training about how to enforce the law but have yet to make any arrests.

In fact, Wilson said, the department’s training isn’t complete because of federal court actions. Last month, for example, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary order blocking part of the law that said violators would be guilty of a Class C misdemeanor and subject to a fine of $100 and up to 30 days in jail.

That order “kind of kicked everybody back again,” Wilson said. “We’re having to go back and re-evaluate it.”

Mack also wasn’t aware of any arrests under the law.

Mack described the law and the legal uncertainty surrounding it as “challenging” for officers.

“We had a law. We had an amended law,” he said. “We’ve never settled on what’s to be done. ... We’ll benefit from the training simply because this is an issue — one way or the other — we’re going to have to address."

Attorney General Luther Strange told the Associated Press that state law prohibits him from issuing formal opinions on specific questions about the law. His website, however, offers links to the law and recent decisions on it.

Baldwin District Attorney Hallie Dixon said she did not intend to set up a special division in her office specifically to handle immigration cases.

“I don’t see this law being any different from any other laws,” Dixon said. “For me, while it may be cumbersome, as many laws are, our duties are to uphold the law. I can’t see this law affecting the number of people I have to employ.”

Dixon’s office is tasked with prosecuting the laws on the books, and until the courts rule on what is binding, she essentially plays a waiting game. “Until we know what portions of this law are going to be left in effect,” she said, “we don’t know the level of change that might or might not occur.”

Muzaffar Chishti, director of the Migration Policy Institute’s Office at the New York University School of Law, said that the law presents three major issues to officers on the streets:

How to enforce a law for which there is little or no precedent

How to enforce a law that could face constitutional scrutiny

How to avoid the risk of racial profiling

“Alabama, I think it is safe to say, will have to write its own course as how they’re going to enforce this law,” Chishti said.

He said, “Most cops think that their job, their mission in life, is to protect lives. They don’t see the idea that tracking down people just because of their status is part of their job. And more importantly, I think it undermines their job, which is to promote public safety.”

The federal government has objected to the law, Chishti said, because it could create work of “a different priority,” possibly at the expense of letting more dangerous illegal immigrants run free.

Chishti said that the law is “inherently problematic to enforce on the streets. It’s hard to engage in that law without engaging in some kind of profiling, especially if you’re not a trained immigration officer.”